Word-registering attachment for type-writing machines.



PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

R. R. FOWLER.

WORD REGISTERING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR,6, 1905.

No. 807,022. PATEN'I'ED DEC. 12, 1905. R. R. FOWLER. WORD REGISTERING ATTACHMENT POE TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.6,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ROBERTR. FOWLER, OF MADERA, CALIFORNIA.

WORD-REGISTERING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE-WRITING MACHINES Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed March 6. 1905. serial Nor 24:8,518.

To all whonc it Wtay concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT R. FOWLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Madera, in the county of Madera and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Word Registering Attachments for Type-Writing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in means for counting and registering the numnumber of words or symbols having the numerical value of words struck upon a typewriter.

It consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view, in partial section, of keyboard-operating shafts and plates. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the irregular line as :1; of Fig. '1. Fig. 3 is an end view of safety-lock. Fig. 4 is a side view of same. Fig. 5 is a plan view of machine, showing my invention. Fig. 6 is a view of star-wheel and mechanism. Fig. 7 is a perspective of stop members 7 and 8. Fig. 8 is a perspective of plates A A B O and operating-shafts.

For purposes of exemplification my inven tion is here shown in conjunction with a machine of the Smith-Premier type and includes the addition of three reciprocating plates A, A, and B, similar to the present shifting plate (shown at 0) used for wordspacing and being operated in a similar manner by lugs 2 on the rock-shafts 3, connecting with the keyboard 5, the shafts and the frame D of the machine being lengthened accordingly.

The means for reciprocating plate C and also plates A, A, and B are as follows: The rock-shafts 3 and shaft 3, connecting with spacer-bar 4, have their ends journaled in fixed parts of the frame, and each vertical series of shafts extend through a vertical slot, as'lel, in the plates A'A BC. Plate A, or the word-registering plate, and plate A, or the figure-registering plate, are each notched on one side of the slots 14, as at 15, and plates B and C are correspondingly notched on the opposite side, and each plate is made to bear against the several shafts by means of a spring 16. The lugs 2 on the shafts engage the plates in the intermediate spaces between the shafts and in such manner that plates 0 and B are reciprocated in one direc tion and plates A A in the opposite direction.

However, all the shafts do not operate alike or on all the plates. Some shafts move plate 0 only, some move plates C and B, others move C and A, and still others move 0 and A, as will be explained later. All the shafts, though, act upon plate 0. When a key on th ekeyboard 17 is struck, it operates, through its stem 17 and an arm 3 on a shaft 3, to rock said shaft, pressing its lug 2 against plate 0 and causing the latter to travel away from the shaft. As soon as pressure on the key is released spring 16 pulls plate O back against the shaft ready for the same key or another key or the spacer-bar to be struck. Thus each time plate O makes a reciprocation it allows carriage E to move forward one full step or letter-space.

E is the usual reciprocating carriage, supporting the paper and advancing step by step as each letter is struck or the spacingbar 4 actuated. This step-by-Step advance, equal to one letter-space, is accomplished in the machine now in ordinary use by the following means: Plate C, which for convenience will be termed the spacer-plate, carries two lugs 5, which engage opposite sides of an arm 5 on a vertical shaft 6. At the upper end of the latter are two rigid separated sideby-side horizontal stop members 7 Sin slightly-different planes. One or the other of these stops is always in the path of a star-wheel 9 on the horizontal shaft 10. The latter carries a small pinion 10, meshing an idle pinion 11, which engages a rack-bar 12 on the carriage, and the carriage tends always to traverse in. one direction by means of spring 13. Thus the latter, through the medium of the rack and pinion, will cause wheel 9 to revolve and bear with its teeth on one or the other of the stops 7 8. Hence as the shaft 6 is rocked intermittently through the actuation of plate 0 to oscillate stops 7 8 back and forth a tooth of star-wheel 9 first strikes the upper stop 8 when plate C is moved in one direction, and when G moves in the opposite direction and carries stop 8 from under this tooth the latter falls onto stop 7. On the next reciprocation of plate O the tooth slides off of stop 7 and underneath stop 8, allowing the next succeeding tooth to engage stop 8, each tooth engaging the stops successively and finally passing off between the two. The normal position of plate O is such as to leave the upper stop 8 supporting a tooth of the starwheel. The forward-and-back movement of plate C is complete with each actuation and release of a key or the spacer-bar 4, and the carriage moves a letter space with each complete reciprocation of plate C. Each time the spacer-bar 4 is struck its shaft operates or tends to operate on plate A, or the word-registering plate. The latter carries a finger 18, which is adapted on each forward reciprocation of the plate to strike an actuatingarm, as 19, of any suitable registering device, as indicated at 20.

Plate A is actuated only when characters such as figures of the value of a word are struck, and it operates in a manner similar to plate A upon a separate registering device, as 20.

Plate B is in the nature of a safety-lock for plate A to prevent fraudulent or duplicate registration, as will be explained shortly.

The keyboard of a type-writer used for ordinary commercial purposes contains four general classes of charactersto wit, first, letters A a, B b, C c, &c.; second, punctuation marks 2; third, figures 1 2, 3, &c.; fourth, miscellaneous signs & $4 The letters 1 and 0 now on the keyboard of the ordinary type-writer are used interchangeably as figures 1 and 0, and also in writing decimals the period is used for the decimal point. My invention contemplates the addition to the ordinary keyboard of separate keys for the decimal point and the numerals 1 and O.

In type-written manuscript all figures count as words, as likewise do the following signs: dollar-mark ($5), number-mark (7%), the character &, and per cent. Hence all of said characters and all the figures have their shafts arranged to operate on plates A and C. The following characters are connected with plates A and C and operate in the same manner as spacing-bar 4, viz: period colon (2), semicolon comma and interrogation-point Z). The following characters are connected with plate C only, since they count for nothing, viz: asterisk quotation-mark ("),parenth eses O, underscore dividing-mark and apostrophe The hyphen and all letters are connected with plates C and B. Letters may or may not count as words; but when counted as words or when terminating words they are always followed by a blank or word-space caused by the actuation of the spacer-bar, which acts on plates A C.

The purpose of plate B is to render false registration impossible-as, for example, the counting of a series of successive actuations of the blank spacer-bar 4 as separate words or a succession of alternating asterisks or equivalents and blank spaces as words. The manner in which this check is exercised is as follows: Whenever plate A is moved forward to operate register 20, it is temporarily held against return by means of an oscillating stop member 21, pivoted intermediate of its ends on a post 22, disposed between plates A and B. Stop 21 has only a limited move= ment about its pivot, and its ends project into the path of cams 23 24, respectively, on plates A and B. Cam 23 is adapted to engage the under side of the adjacent end of the stop to oscillate the latter in one direction and cam 24 to engage the upper side of the opposite end to oscillate the stop in the other direction. A spring 25 operates on rocker 21 to cause its end adjacent to plate A normally to depend into the path of cam 23 and always be in readiness for engagement thereby when released from cam 24. Consequently when plate A is moved to record a word either by spacer-bar 4 or the punctuation-keys the end of stop-lever 21 rides up over cam 23 and as the registration is made drops behind the cam and holds plate A against immediate return. It remains in this position until plate B, which reciprocates in an opposite direction, comes along and. its cam 24 lifts the stop-lever and releases plate A.

In operation assume the operator is to write U. S. Letters Patentjt Jan. 1,/O3. The key with the mark is struck to print the sign and move the carriage one space.

Plate C only is operated. The'key to print 9 the letter U is then struck and plates C and B are moved, though plate B for the time being performs no function. The key for the period is then struck and plates A and C are moved and one word is registered. Should the spacer 4 be hit, then there will not be a duplicate registration, by reason of the interposition of the stop-lever 21.. When letter S is struck, plates B and. C move in unison and plate A is released ready for the next registration. The key with the period as we have seen, causes plates A and C to move and register a second word, the plate A being caught each time it moves forward by stop 21 and is only released when plate B trips the opposite end of the stop. Likewise Letters Patent are registered as separate words, though after Patent the registration is made simultaneously with the ressing of the comma-key. The character fi is then struck and plates A and C are moved and a register made on register 20'. The blank space succeeding the sign 51 is caused by a series of actuations of spacer-bar 4. While each actuation of bar 4 tends to move plates A and C, it is remembered that plate A has remained in its forward position, locked by stop 21, ever since the striking of the comma following Patent, and hence no register is made. As soon as letter J is struck plate A is released, and, as is obvious, a word registration by plate A is made after the period following the abbreviation of January. The plate A is moved successively to register the figures ICC 1 and 03, while only plate C is moved when the dividing sign is struck. The total number of word values is ascertained by the sum of the records of registers 20 and 20 Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a counting attachment for type-writing machines, the combination with a key of the keyboard, and a rock-shaft operated by said key, of a spacing-carriage operatable by said rock-shaft, a reciprocating part operatable by said rock-shaft, and a register mechanism operatable by said reciprocating part, and locking means to prevent the actuation of said register-actuating part.

2. In a counting attachment for type-writing machines, the combination with a key of the keyboard, and a rock-shaft operated by said key, a spacing-carriage operatable by said rock-shaft, a reciprocating part operatable by said rock-shaft, a register mechanism operatable by said reciprocating part, and locking means to prevent the actuation of said register-actuating part, a second rock-shaft and a second separate reci rocating part actuated by said second roc shaft to release said locking means.

3. In a counting attachment for type-writing machines, the combination with a key and a rock-shaft actuated by the key, of a registering device, operative connections between said registering device and said rockshaft, and locking means to prevent the actuation of the register-operating connections.

4. In a counting attachment for typewrit ing machines, the combination of a key, a rock-shaft connected with the key, a sliding plate operating at right angles to the rockshaft, lugs on the rock-shaft to operate said plate, a registering device operatable by said plate, and locking means to prevent the actuation of the register-operating plate.

5. In a counting attachment for type-writ- Y ing machines, the combination with the keyboard, of a registering device, a sliding plate to operate said device, means for actuating said plate from the keyboard, and means engaging said plate to lock it against operation by certain keys on the keyboard.

6. In a counting attachment for type-writing machines, the combination with the keyboard, of a registering device, a sliding plate to operate said. device, rock-shafts connected with the keys of the keyboard for actuating said plate, means for locking said plate against operation by certain keys on the keyboard, and means including a second sliding plate to release said locking means.

7. In a word counting attachment for type writing machines, the combination with the keys of the keyboard, of a registering device, two plates arranged parallel and reciprocal in opposite directions, one of said plates connected withv said registering device to operate the latter, connections between said plates and certain keys of the keyboard, and stop means interposed between the plates operating alternately to lock or to release the register-actuating plate.

8. The combination with the keyboard of a type-writing machine, of two sliding plates, a registering device connected with one of said plates, means connected with the keys of the keyboard to actuate said plates, means engaging the register-actuating plate to prevent the actuation of said plate, and means operating through the medium of the other plate to release said stop means.

9. The combination with the keyboard of a type-writing machine, of a sliding plate, rock-shaits connected with the keys on the keyboard and passing through slots in said plate and having means to operate said plate in one direction, means tending to operate the plate in opposition to said rock-shaft operating means, a register mechanism operatably connected with said plate, and locking means to prevent the actuation of the plate.

10. The combination with the keyboard of a typewriting machine, of a sliding plate, rock-shafts connected with the keys on the keyboard and passing through slots in said plate and having means to operate said plate in one direction, means tending to operate the plate in opposition to said rock-shaft op erating means, a register mechanism operatably connected with said plate, and means for locking the plate to prevent the actuation of the register.

11. The combination with the keyboard of a type-writing machine, of a sliding plate, rock-shafts connected with the keys on the keyboard and passing through slots in said plate and having means to operate said plate in one direction, means tending to operate the plate in opposition to said rock-shaft operating means, a register mechanism operatably connected with said plate, means to limit the actuation of said plate, and means to release said limiting means, said releasing means comprising a plate operatably connected with certain keys of said rock-shafts and movable in the direction of the first plate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT R. FOWLER. Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, JEssIE O. BRODIE. 

